SOME time after being released from his first imprisonment in Rome in 61 C.E., the apostle Paul visits the island of Crete. Noting the spiritual condition of the congregations there, he leaves Titus behind to strengthen them. Later, likely from Macedonia, Paul writes a letter to Titus to guide him in his duties and to give apostolic backing to his work.

REMAIN SPIRITUALLY HEALTHY

(Titus 1:1–3:15)

After providing guidance for the making of “appointments of older men in city after city,” Paul counsels Titus to “keep on reproving [the unruly] with severity, that they may be healthy in the faith.” He admonishes all in the congregations in Crete “to repudiate ungodliness . . . and to live with soundness of mind.”​—Titus 1:5, 10-13; 2:12.

Paul gives further counsel to help the brothers in Crete to remain spiritually healthy. He instructs Titus to “shun foolish questionings . . . and fights over the Law.”​—Titus 3:9.

Scriptural Questions Answered:

1:15​—How can “all things” be “clean to clean persons,” but unclean “to persons defiled and faithless”? The answer lies in understanding what Paul meant by “all things.” He was speaking, not of things directly condemned in God’s written Word, but of matters in which the Scriptures allow varying responses from believers. To a person whose thinking is in harmony with God’s standards, such things are clean. It is the opposite with someone whose thinking is distorted and whose conscience is defiled.a

3:5​—How are anointed Christians ‘saved through a bath’ and ‘made new by holy spirit’? They are ‘saved through a bath’ in that God has bathed, or cleansed, them with the blood of Jesus on the merit of the ransom sacrifice. They are ‘made new by holy spirit’ because they have become “a new creation” as spirit-begotten sons of God.​—2 Cor. 5:17.

Lessons for Us:

1:10-13; 2:15. Christian overseers must display courage in correcting what is defective in the congregation.

2:3-5. As in the first century, mature Christian sisters today need to “be reverent in behavior, not slanderous, neither enslaved to a lot of wine, teachers of what is good.” In that way, they can be effective in privately instructing “the young women” in the congregation.

3:8, 14. Keeping our “minds on maintaining fine works” is “fine and beneficial” because it helps us to be fruitful in God’s service and keeps us separate from the wicked world.